I have been gifted an almost finished Brodak Cardinal ..are there any changes I should make to it before finishing it

Congrats on your "gifted" Cardinal. Is this the ARF? 

I'd check the wing centerline join to make sure it is adequate. The one I rescued popped apart there. Of course, it had hit the ground before it went into the garbage can. And I'd check the incidence alignment real careful before you start covering and painting. along the same thinking, I'd pull test it first thing--especially if the controls are all covered up already. Or cut a clean hole and take a peek inside. In the last year I have worked on a number of OPPs and 3 of them had some major issues with the bellcrank. Either it was not bolted in properly, or the pushrods were not really formed well and caused control slop, or..... Check it before you spend time finishing! And if the pushrod is not a one-piece music wire job, I'd check that really close, too. I have the salvaged controls out of another garbage can plane where the soldered coupler let go on a brand new airplane. Hate to see so much good work go to waste because of a control failure.

On my "garbage can Cardinal,"  I had to make new flaps, so I made them a bit narrower, as recommended by the West Coast Contingent. I had to build a whole front end from scratch, and followed the kit plans. It was unhappy with a OS 46LA due to resonance. I fiddled with the nose by making it even stiffer, but I should have gone the other way. It actually was happier with the OS 40LA with much more consistent runs.

As far as flying, when it was running smoothly, it flew great. You should have good luck with yours.

Divot

The computer ate my first reply. So I'll try again....

If the build quality looks good, then maybe just do the pull test, control stiffness test (that's how I found a pushrod/bellcrank connection problem on one of the OPP 'pants I rebuilt), and full visual check.

I haven't flown a Cardinal with stock flaps, so I don't know if the mod to shorter chord gave it less of an abrupt response or not. That was the idea.

A guy in our club flies both a stock Cardinal, and a Pathfinder. He says he likes the Pathfinder better, but he always brings the Cardinal on days he expects more of a breeze. I think he starts to like whichever one he has practiced with the most, and more recently. That tells me that they have a different feel to the controls and response. They both fly pretty darned good.

One thing I notice on both of these profiles is that the fuselage twists during hard cornering, allowing a fair bit of stab tilt. That no doubt contributes to additional yaw wiggles. You might consider using some light glass cloth, cut on a bias on the aft fuse. On my trashcan Cardinal, I covered the fuse with Polyspan. People have trouble holding it for start and launch without poking their fingers thru....

Sounds like fun, good luck with it!

Divot